


the irresistible curvature of melons

by arstronomy



Category: GOT7
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Melons - Freeform, this is crack im sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-08
Updated: 2017-11-10
Packaged: 2019-01-30 15:50:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12656637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arstronomy/pseuds/arstronomy
Summary: The green, striped swollen fruit in Jaebum’s shopping cart catches melon-slapping Jinyoung’s attention.





	1. would you be kind enough to allow me to slap your melon, sir?

**Author's Note:**

> based off of that one tumblr post about having an urge to slap melons
> 
> also from now on instead of posting separate stories for two/three/whatever-shots im just going to make them chaptered

Jinyoung has an unexplainable habit of slapping melons.

 

He has no clue why but whenever he takes in the beauty of the smooth, (generally) green fruit with an elegantly round figure that’s only emphasized by its stripes, his hands subconsciously reach for it in the desire to slap it. When he _does_ get to smack the fruit, there’s a sweet and tingly sting that shoots up his spine and he stands there, sighing.

 

Is he an odd person or is he a normal person who just happens to act strangely around melons?

 

Well, either way, Jinyoung isn’t concerned about having to hide his true self because he’s already doing a great job of keeping this tendency a secret to others. After all, it isn’t as if he just openly tells someone he’s just met about how he wanders around the melon section at grocery stores, just to find the perfect looking melon that looks appealing to slap. 

He’s got a reputation that he has to keep pure and clear of anything suspicious — and his uncontrollable urge of hitting melons for pleasure probably won’t look pretty on his resume. Even Jinyoung has a difficult time describing this habit on paper or over text, and _he’s_ the one that actually has it.

 

Jinyoung’s melon-slapping also isn’t as simple as one would imagine it to be. There are different kinds of slaps — the angle of his hand, the speed of his swinging arm and how flexible his palm is all are factors that can change how he slaps — depending on the situation. 

The situation mainly refers to the size and shape of the melon itself and how urgent Jinyoung’s need to hit one is at the time. If he’s looking just for a casual slap for the day, perhaps even the week, he’ll give the fruit a gentle pat of his palm and tap his fingers on its skin — before he walks away pretending as though he did nothing, of course. If he’s been deprived of a good slap for a long period of time, however, he’ll end up going full-out on the melon. 

Fortunately for him and his pride, he hasn’t actually destroyed a melon even during his most desperate times. He hasn’t _yet,_ at least. 

 

But on a fateful afternoon of mid-June, Jinyoung had destroyed, instead of the melon, his record of never falling for someone _ever_ in his life spanning 20 years (and still counting).

 

Jinyoung’s visiting the local supermarket for his weekly grocery shopping. He hasn’t eaten at home that much the previous week, meaning he didn’t have a need for a lot of shopping. He just needs to purchase some of the essential stuff: a bag of potatoes, a larger bag of Japanese milled rice, and vanilla ice cream. He can just revisit the store if his refrigerator is missing something, but he generally doesn’t cook for himself to begin with.

He’s been to this supermarket enough times to know where the melon section is by heart: two meters away from the apples, a left turn from the kiwis and right across the bananas. Jinyoung casually walks over to the melon section, pretending like he’s simply looking and not trying to determine which fruit would be the most satisfying to slap.

 

To his horror, the melon stand is basically empty.

 

Well, it isn’t _entirely_ empty — a couple of small, misshapen melons lie there pitifully in the slim hopes that someone will purchase them — but it essentially is to Jinyoung. He’s got high standards, after all, and the lumpy, small, unevenly curved melons are a total turn-off to him. He stands in front of the melon section, eyeing down the green fruits, finding them to be absolutely disgraceful. Revolting. _Unnacceptable._

Jinyoung sighs while shaking his head in utter disappointment, just about ready to kindly throw his shopping basket at an employee and leave until a treasure, a precious gem catches his eye. 

 

One of the most beautiful melons he’s ever had the honor of seeing is in an unattended shopping cart next to the berries. 

 

It’s as if the wonderfully round and full shape, the symmetrical, even stripes lining from its North to South pole and the rich, ripe green color is inviting him to come and slap — no, it’s _charming_ the bewitched young man, who’s already making his way over to the cart and the melon.

The closer he gets to the melon, the more his eyes widen in absolute awe of its beauty. There’s no way that, now he’s come this far, that he could simply walk away and ignore the opportunity of a lifetime.

 

Jinyoung acts as if he’s on a secret mission now, glancing at every direction to make sure no one’s watching — or that someone who seems to be the owner of the cart isn’t nearby. 

When he deems the coast to be clear, he takes in a sharp inhale and raises his hand to just above his shoulder. He’s pretending as though he’s _very_ interested in the organic strawberries, when in reality he’s trying to get as close as he can to the shopping cart. 

For an instant, he swings his arm backwards so he can gain the extra speed and force against the melon. He holds his breath at just the right timing so the feeling of the smooth surface coming in contact with his palm feels exhilarating.

Because he had slapped it rather rigorously, the fresh, slightly hollow noise that came as a result is awfully loud. In fact, some people nearby turn their heads to see what was the cause of that strange noise — though, most of them have an idea as to where it came from, considering how they’re staring at Jinyoung.

Jinyoung turns his body to the side, convincing the onlookers that it wasn’t him. He even stuffs his hands into his trousers’ pockets to make his act seem more believable. The customers nearby return to whatever they were doing earlier, but that’s only because they think a _different_ person is the culprit of the melon-slapping. 

 

And Jinyoung doesn’t notice that the other person is there, just until he gets embarrassingly called out by them. 

 

“Excuse me,” a low-toned voice lined with hesitation says while a finger taps on Jinyoung’s shoulder from behind, “Did you just slap my melon?” 

Jinyoung gulps nervously, turning around slowly so he can at least face his shame and doom for being caught slapping someone else’s melon after preparing himself mentally. He knew it; he should’ve been more careful when approaching the fruit. He was blinded by its elegance that he completely disregarded the fact that it isn’t _his_ own melon — oh, what has he done? He’s broken one of the most sacred rules of the melon code (which definitely exists), which states that none shall even attempt to touch a melon under the property of another man — for the consequences will be deadly. 

 

Jinyoung faces the melon-owner and he suddenly can’t breathe. 

 

Never in a hundred — no, a thousand years did he ever think that he would consider a person standing next to a gracious melon to be more beautiful. 

 

But here he is, amazed and speechless as he gawks at the stranger, his mouth agape and the rest of his body unable to make even the slightest movements.

There’s nothing about the melon-owner that Jinyoung finds ugly, except maybe for his atrociously large forehead and the haircut that further accentuates its size. His eyebrows are long and angular (perhaps indicating a compelling personality), the bridge of his nose is low like most Koreans yet it’s sharp (which adds some spiciness to his face), his lips are a perfect rose-peach hue, and his chin protrudes slightly, giving him the final ingredient of an assertive appearance (fit for a man who must be nearly 180 centimeters). Two delicate moles of the same size lie besides each other on top of his left eye, which only look like two perfectly round melons to Jinyoung and therefore increases how hot the stranger is to him.

Jinyoung nearly forgets that he’s been asked a question almost a minute ago and that the handsome stranger is still staring back at him, poising four bags of baby kale in his arms and presumably awaiting an answer. 

“Ah… Well, you see…” Jinyoung begins, endeavoring to think of a reasonable excuse while his tongue subconsciously gives his upper lip a quick lick, “I… I wasn’t.”

“You _weren’t_?” the stranger then asks, his neck slightly jerking forward in the disbelief of what he had just heard. He laughs, a sound that feels like honey being poured into Jinyoung’s ears (if, theoretically, that didn’t feel sticky and gross at all). “But I just saw you raising your arm over my melon.”

Jinyoung is beyond embarrassed at this point. His face is rapidly growing red in color, especially around the cheeks and over his nose, and he’s potentially going to scream at any second. This wouldn’t be a problem if the person who owned the beautiful melon isn’t just as pleasing to look — but, unfortunately, that’s what Jinyoung is dealing with and he’s absolutely flabbergasted. He can’t bring himself to do anything except for fiddle with his fingers and somewhat tilt his chin down, as if avoiding any awkward eye contact. At this rate, he’s planning to run away and escape the market extremely soon if he’ll have to stand there like an idiot who can’t speak.

 

“You really like melons, don’t you? How about we eat this together at my place?”

 

“Wh… What?” Jinyoung asks in complete and utter confusion (which is reasonable enough), taking a gander at the melon-owner with beady, bewildered eyes. He’s sure he simply misheard the stranger — that is, up till the moment he lifts the melon into his arms and shows it to Jinyoung, as though he’s saying ‘this is what I mean.’

“This melon is too much for me to eat by myself, anyways.” He flashes a non-toothy grin that shoots at least three bullets into Jinyoung’s heart and pats the melon before placing it back into the cart. “I’m Jaebum, by the way, if you were thinking about shouting stranger danger. I swear I won’t do anything weird; I just want to share a nice melon with a guy who appreciates them, you get me?”

 

“I’m Jinyoung!” he blurts out suddenly, unable to think of anything else decent to say to the good-looking Jaebum. 

In return, Jaebum simply smiles even wider and starts pushing the cart to the where the cash registers are located, making a little gesture with his head for Jinyoung to follow him. Jinyoung doesn’t hesitate to follow the charming melon-owner and walk besides him (admittedly, he’s still shooting glances to the irresistible fruit) though unbeknownst to Jaebum, he’s clutching his chest with one hand. 

 

He can't believe it. 

 

The melons have led Jinyoung to his first love.


	2. sometimes, inner beauty doesn’t matter. this melon tastes bad.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The melon is cut in half — is it cutting their connection apart, or is it revealing a whole new story?

Jaebum is having an intriguing day so far.

 

Originally, his plan since morning was to buy the largest watermelon at the grocery store because a certain pair of his younger friends begged him to, literally. They had gotten down on their knees and bowed multiple times to the drowsy Jaebum, still laying in bed, whose hair was being chewed by a sapphire-eyed cat. He was only half awake at the time and barely understood what was going on — especially because he shared his apartment with only one other person: an obnoxiously long-legged boy from Thailand. 

It turned out that his apartment-mate, Bambam, had invited his even more obnoxiously tall best friend, Yugyeom, to their room in order to film a video they were arranging to post on YouTube. Jaebum only bothered to pay attention to bits and pieces of Bambam’s description of what their video was supposed to be, which was a ‘challenge’ involving a large watermelon and hundreds of rubber bands. 

Yugyeom, with his squeaky voice, complained about how Bambam forgot to buy a watermelon the other day and that he came to his place for nothing.

 

Jaebum truly perceived the feeling of pain people get when having to deal with annoying youngsters that morning.

 

Despite lacking his routine cup of coffee that he had during the earliest hours of the day, Jaebum gave in to the two younger’s endless pleading and headed out for the nearby supermarket. Lamentably, that store had actually stopped selling melons for the rest of the _year_ so he had to pursue the nearest store from _there._

When Jaebum entered the next supermarket and saw the almost empty melon stand in the midst of the other colorful fruits, he pumped his fist in the air and whispered his words of gratitude to the fruit gods watching over him. He grabbed one of the shopping carts that were lined up (for some reason, he didn’t choose the lightweight and easier to carry basket) and jogged his way to the watermelons. At that point, he had walked an additional half a mile outdoors with his hair not combed at all and his face not washed at all. He just wanted to get this fruit shopping over with already.

Before getting up from his bed and actually deciding to do them a favor, he questioned why they couldn’t just go and buy one for themselves. They began spewing out random excuses to him at the exact same time — the two voices knocking into his brain from both ears physically and mentally hurt Jaebum (mostly mentally). 

Even though Jaebum had no idea what they were even saying, he hurried up and left anyways, thinking it was better to just have fresh air rather than breathe in the same room as those two.

The melon section looked rather sad to Jaebum. There were only four or five of them left, all of them small sized and awfully lumpy. One of them, however, sitting in the middle of the clump of melons, was significantly larger and seemed fit for whatever the noisy kids needed it for. That was the one he grabbed and placed in his cart with a short sigh. He would’ve left right after that, but a nice bargain on organic apricots caught his attention. His cats were gluttons for apricots but apricots only, which was something he figured out when his entire _bag_ of the fruit he got from his mother disappeared one day. 

 

And that is where the story of the melon-owner and melon-slapper began. 

 

Obviously, Jaebum wasn’t thinking clearly when he invited the melon-slapper, Jinyoung, to eat the watermelon with him. He completely forgot about how he was buying the melon for Bambam and Yugyeom. In fact, he only recalled the entire watermelon situation until they had basically arrived at his apartment room and when he was taking out his keys. When the realization hit him, he mouthed a silent curse word in a way that Jinyoung wouldn’t notice. 

In all honesty, Jaebum acted on complete impulse when he offered to have Jinyoung over at his place and share the fruit with him. As relaxed and smooth Jaebum appeared to be, his arms and legs were sweating because Jinyoung was simply, well, _cute._ The wavy, short bangs that curved at his eyebrows, the lips lacking a cupid’s bow and the genuine shyness in his eyes weren’t things he could just pass by without glancing at twice. He couldn’t have allowed an opportunity of befriending this delightful melon-slapper to slip away from his hands, so he put on a disarming smile and did the best thing he could think of: invite him to eat the melon together. 

_That’s fine. If anything, I’ll pretend I don’t know anything and maybe those two will get the hint. They’ll probably go with the flow. I’m older, anyways. They know better than to embarrass me in front of a guest… right?_

Jaebum unlocks the door and opens it, but doesn’t step in himself. He holds it open that way so Jinyoung can come inside first and take off his shoes. He’s quite the gentlemanly person, even if his 90% black outfits and edgy ‘Defsoul’ phone case make him look otherwise. After shutting the door behind himself, he gawks around at the entire room as he slowly makes his way to the kitchen where he can put the fruits down. The place is unusually quiet which is strange, considering the two people that were in there thirty or so minutes earlier. He then spots a note on the kitchen countertop that’s written in Bambam’s signature messy handwriting.

 

_yo jaebum!!!!_   
_yugyeom found the watermelon i bought last week in the back of the fridge!!!_   
_we’re at the park to film the video because i thought you’d get mad if we made a mess in here lolol_   
_thanks 4 going out to buy another watermelon tho_   
_you can just eat it yourself hehe_

_thx, bambam + YUGYEOMMM_

 

Jaebum rips up the note and tosses it in the trash can.

 

“Oh my god,” Jinyoung exclaims from the front entrance. Jaebum turns around to see what the commotion is about; his beloved cat, Nora, is tugging on Jinyoung’s sock with her sharp teeth. 

“Hey, Nora! Don’t mind her, please. She just likes attention.” Clicking his tongue in annoyance, Jaebum (gently) shoos her away and leads his guest to the kitchen, where he has the impressive melon on a plastic cutting board. 

 

Five seconds that seem like five minutes pass as they stand side by side, staring down at the beautiful round melon. 

 

“Should we, ah, cut it, Jinyoung?” Jaebum then asks, breaking the somewhat awkward atmosphere between them by glancing at the other and smiling. His grin does the trick of interrupting the trance Jinyoung is in and he mutters something incoherent, nodding. 

The two of them locate the kitchen knife that’s nearby and grab it simultaneously, causing Jaebum to accidentally grab Jinyoung’s hand. Strangely enough, neither of them bother to move their hands away from each other’s. Something seems to… click in their hearts, and it’s something indescribable — but it’s not unpleasant, either.

Gradually, they face each other and eventually find that they’re making eye contact. Jinyoung’s eyes are blinking an unnatural amount of times for such a short duration but, instead of his shyness from earlier, his gaze expresses just exactly how lovestruck he is. 

 

Jaebum stares into his sparkling eyes, discovering the reflection of the curvaceous fruit in the melon-slapper’s eyes. 

 

“I… I’ll cut it, Jaebum,” Jinyoung says softly, afraid that his voice might crack because of how nervous he is. 

 

“O-Oh, of course. Go ahead,” quickly responds Jaebum, who just couldn’t stop himself from stuttering, and lifts his hand from Jinyoung’s so he can pull the knife out. Since when was he actually _holding_ onto his hand?

Jinyoung gulps before positioning the blade onto the fruit, his non-amateur hands for the preparation of fresh food knowing where to go on the round figure. He slides back and forth, slowly, so he can carefully cut the melon deep enough for him to push down on the dull side of the knife. The two halves of the melon flip onto the cutting board, bouncing for a bit as their backsides are curved and can’t seem to agree on how to sit on the flat surface.

Now it’s Jaebum’s turn to clutch his chest and he watches the strong arms of Jinyoung cut the watermelon into single-serving slices from the sidelines, wondering why the melon-slapper is so attractive.

 

Jaebum had suggested that they eat in the living room and have the watermelons on the coffee table, since it was low enough for them to (probably) not spill the juice of the fruit or its seeds everywhere. He noticed how proud Jinyoung seemed after he huffed a loud breath through his nostrils once finished with the cutting of the melon, wiping his brow as if slicing the fruit up was _that_ tough. But, of course, there was a little secret to the determined and satisfied gaze of Jinyoung — Jaebum saw a glimpse of nostalgia and sorrow in his brown eyes, perhaps remembering the roughly 38 minutes of their shared time with the watermelon.

 

The question is, though, was the cutting of that very watermelon a good or bad thing?

 

Each of them has eaten two slices of the watermelon and are currently on their third piece. The taste isn’t actually that fantastic, with lots of bland areas and little to no ridiculously sweet parts that everyone secretly wishes to come across when eating melons. Jaebum’s munching is a bit louder since he has a habit of occasionally parting his lips when he chews. Jinyoung is politely crunching down on the melon with barely any noises, but he never notices the couple of seeds that are always stuck on his lips. 

Jaebum swallows his huge bite of melon as he’s glancing at Jinyoung, his elbows resting against his bent knees while they sit on the couch. Their butts sort of stick out more than they should, though that’s only because they’re trying to not drool watermelon juice from their mouths. 

 

Out of nowhere, Jaebum gets curious and asks with widened eyes, “Say, Jinyoung… Why do you like to slap melons?”

Jinyoung finishes his mouthful of melon and places the half-eaten slice back onto the table (on top of a napkin, of course). He uses another napkin to wipe the excess water off from the edge of his lips and leans back, his upper body sinking into the cushion of the couch. “15 years ago… I was only 5 years old. I got sad over getting my favorite pair of frog themed rain boots dirty and was proud of little stick buildings I made in the backyard of my house. You’ve lived that sort of life too when you were younger, right, Jaebum?”

Jaebum nods while smacking his lips together, paying close attention to Jinyoung and his now soulful aura that surrounds him. He’s expecting to get a long, heavily worded story about his childhood and the origins of his melon-slapping urges — and he’s ready to listen to all of it.

 

“It was on a cloudy afternoon, just like today… My mother brought home one of the largest and smoothest melons I’ve ever seen. I was enchanted by that beautiful thing and my hand seemed to have a mind of its own… I went on my tippy-toes in order to reach the melon, since I was tiny as a toddler,” Jinyoung describes with a reminiscent sigh, staring at the small television that’s in front of him. He notices that there’s a small crack on the edge of its screen, but he assumes that Jaebum is aware of it and continues his story. “My hand… It just _slapped_ that thing. The noise echoed throughout the house and my soft palm stung in pain. My mother, father, and two older sisters looked at me as though I had just killed someone. But I couldn’t care less — I had just experienced one of the best things ever in my life.” 

Jinyoung peeks at the one sitting besides him, a subtle smile appearing on his face. It’s more of an eye-smile, anyways — the way they crinkle and essentially are a pair of bright smiles themselves causes Jaebum’s heart to skip a beat. He didn’t know that his heart could even do that. 

“Oh… I hope I haven’t weirded you out or anything,” Jinyoung adds with a sheepish chuckle, beaming at him and his two melon-moles. He swears that every time he looks at those moles, they look even cuter on Jaebum’s face than they do the last time. Maybe it’s because they look like melons and Jinyoung just has a strange infatuation with the fruit, which isn’t far from the truth. 

“I’m not weirded out at all. In fact, I’m sort of fascinated by you,” says Jaebum in a lower voice, which throws a faint red blush onto Jinyoung’s cheeks in a matter of seconds. He’s probably never been told that his obsession with melons and slapping them was fascinating, _especially_ in such a charming voice. 

 

Jaebum suddenly holds onto Jinyoung’s hands and grips on it firmly. 

 

Shocked and at a loss of words, Jinyoung glances from their joined hands to Jaebum’s handsome face, back and forth. He eventually calms himself down and the two are simply gazing into each other’s eyes — it’s something boring to witness but inside of the melon-owner and melon-slapper, their hearts are beating rapidly, almost as if racing one another.

Jaebum and Jinyoung’s hands, together, rise from where they are (which is near the surface of the table) and their fingers point vertically to the ceiling. Instead of their hands sharing an embrace, though, Jaebum’s palm pushes flat against Jinyoung’s. It’s as though they’re reflections on a mirror, only that the glass is invisible and thin enough to fit between their palms. Their hands stay in that pose, partially because the watermelon juice is drying on their hands and is extremely sticky. But that might as well be convenient for them and their rushed yet still romantic bond over melons.

 

There’s only one proper way to describe this phenomenon:

 

It was true love at first slap.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> can u imagine spending ur free time writing this kind of stuff like me


End file.
